'After consulting closely with my team and with the guidance of the incredible Dr Pardiwala, we felt it was best for me to withdraw from all remaining BWF Tour events in 2025.'
Sameer Verma stayed on course for his title defence while three-time former champion Saina Nehwal too reached the semifinals with an easy win
Sourabh Verma and Ajay Jayram also entered the second round
Defending men's champion Kidambi Srikanth suffered a shock defeat but Olympic silver medallist P V Sindhu did not face any trouble as she sailed into the women's singles final with a straight-game victory on an exciting day in Syed Modi Grand Prix Gold badminton tournament in Lucknow on Saturday.
'Critics say the political leadership abandoned the army chief or did not back him. I disagree. 'Military leaders are trained to take decisions when given a free hand.' 'This was a clear go-ahead from the prime minister to the army chief.'
Tournament co-hosts India will be out to defend their Twenty20 World Cup title. The 10th edition of the 20-overs global showpiece event will run from February 7 to March 8.
Sourabh kept moving ahead despite a spirited fight from Heo and eventually pocketed the match.
Top seed Kidambi Srikanth entered the quarter-finals but a heartbreak was in store for P V Sindhu, who suffered a shock defeat to Nitchaon Jindapol of Thailand in the second round of the $120,000 Syed Modi Grand Prix Gold badminton tournament, in Lucknow, on Thursday.
Tournament co-hosts India will be out to defend their Twenty20 World Cup title in familiar home conditions next month.
Star India shuttlers P V Sindhu and Kidambi Srikanth notched up comfortable victories but it was young Mumbai player Harsheel Dani who hogged the limelight at the Syed Modi Grand Prix Gold when he stunned H S Prannoy in straight games to storm into the quarter-finals in Lucknow on Thursday.
'We have given riot-free Maharashtra in our 18-month rule.'
India's ace shuttler Saina Nehwal snapped her 15-month title drought, clinching the Syed Modi International India Grand Prix Gold badminton crown with a straight-game victory over compatriot P V Sindhu in the women's singles competition in Lucknow on Sunday.
Still recovering from a foot injury and a recurring fever, defending champion Saina Nehwal has pulled out of the women's singles competition at the Syed Modi Grand Prix Gold badminton tournament in Lucknow.
Top Indian shuttlers, including K Srikanth and Parupalli Kashyap in men's singles and P V Sindhu in women's singles, advanced to the second round after easy victories on the first day of the main draw in the Syed Modi International Badminton tournament, in Lucknow, on Wednesday.
Defending champion Saina Nehwal inched closer to retaining her women's singles title, while other top Indian shuttlers, including P V Sindhu, also made it to the semi-finals of the $120,000 Syed Modi International Badminton tournament.
Saina, who has been battling illness and injuries, is going through a bad patch, having lost six times in the first round this season.
A fast and fluent Lakshya Sen ended a difficult stretch on the international circuit by defeating Japan's Yushi Tanaka in the men's singles final of the US $475,000 Australian Open Super 500 and clinching his first title of the season, in Sydney, on Sunday.
In 2025, India launched Operation Sindoor, a multi-domain combat mission against Pakistan in response to cross-border terrorism. The operation involved precision strikes, military retaliation, and diplomatic measures, marking a significant shift in India's security policy.
Dhurandhar's most dangerous idea is that Director Aditya Dhar envisions an Indian state run by a deep state -- an intelligence machinery not accountable to Parliament, courts, or voters. A future political system where unelected officials decide when Indian democracy is 'fit' to function, observes Syed Firdaus Ashraf.
'Kashmir needs to be divided and we need the land of Panun Kashmir in Kashmir.'
Defending champion P Kashyap bowed out while top seed K Srikanth entered the semi-finals but it was the stunning win of doubles pair of Pranaav Jerry Chopra and Akshay Dewalkar over their World No 8 opponents from Denmark that was the highlight of the day at Syed Modi Grand Prix Gold badminton tournament, in Lucknow, on Friday.
'I don't want to be called a new Indian voter when I am an old Indian voter.'
'If there's no financial support, talent doesn't get a chance to blossom.'
'MGNREGA was about a guaranteed right to work.' 'The new law does not guarantee employment at all.' 'It removes everything that made MGNREGA a legal guarantee.'
'Trump had done a deal with the current regime minus Maduro. The current regime is giving Trump entry into Venezuelan oil. They are obeying him and doing whatever he says.' 'They are happy because they have saved their heads by sacrificing only two, Maduro and his wife. Thousands of Venezuelan military leaders would have been jailed or killed in American action had Maduro stayed in power.'
'If a common man wants to buy an air purifier for Rs 10,000, then he will have to shell out Rs 11,800 with 18 percent GST.' 'If he is charged GST at 5 percent the same air purifier will cost Rs 10,500.' 'This saves a one time amount of Rs 1,300 -- and that too just to breathe clean air.'
Odisha Police detained several Congress workers ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to the state on Friday.
A resurgent Saina Nehwal and fast rising PV Sindhu, country's best women shuttlers, set up a summit clash against each other at the Syed Modi International badminton tournament in Lucknow.
'He is a man of action and goes to the ground and solves the problem.' 'Be it the Air India crash of Ahmedabad, Morbi bridge collapse, Deesa blast or Gambhira bridge collapse, he is on the spot.'
'Can a nuclear-armed nation sustain itself indefinitely under overt military rule without catastrophic consequences for itself and the region? History suggests otherwise.'
India squandered a golden opportunity to return with two titles as both Lakshya Sen and the men's doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty signed off with runner-up finishes at the Hong Kong Open Super 500 in Hing Kong on Sunday.
Lakshya Sen entered his first major final in two years after edging out Chinese Taipei's Chou Tien Chen in straight games, while the men's doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty also stormed into the summit clash.
As an IAS officer in Kerala, Gyanesh Kumar -- who the Congress described as Amit Shah's 'right hand man' -- had a good working equation with the state's Congress and Left leaders.
'Rahul Gandhi's problem is that he doesn't think big.' 'He looks more like an activist, while politics is like a game of chess. You attack and then defend and have a game-plan.'
'The BJP only talks of Kashmiri Pandits when elections are held.'
The highlight of Tuesday's debate on Operation Sindoor was the speech by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, with the rebuttal by Congress's Wayanad MP Priyanka Gandhi coming a close second.
'The BJP's top leadership realised that their cadres are not happy with them, so they changed the ministers and got in new faces.'
'Pakistan wanted India out of Afghanistan to which again the Taliban told Pakistan to take a walk.' 'Six months after they came back to power in 2021 India was back in Afghanistan at the request of the Taliban.' 'The Taliban realised that India has no agenda of its own in Afghanistan.'
PV Sindhu is set to make a much-anticipated return to competitive badminton at the India Open Super 750 tournament after missing the season opener in Kuala Lumpur due to her wedding.
'When I played against Sindhu didi in China, I am happy I managed to play better than I did last time.'